6 Men Charged With Taking Part In Betting Operation at Restaurant

Six persons have been arrested and charged with running an illegal betting operation in a downtown Washington restaurant. The operation netted at least $50,000 over eight months, police said.

The six were arrested last Saturday in the Post Pub at 1424 L St. NW. Police accused the men of taking bets on football, basketball, baseball and hockey games.Most bets were in the $1-to-$20 range, although some customers placed $100 bets, the police said.

For the last eight months, an undercover police officer with the 2nd District vice squad posed as a person from Pittsburgh who was interested in betting on football, basketball, baseball and hockey games. The officer said he placed more than $2,000 worth of bets with the men during that period.

According to investigators and an affidavit filed with a search warrant, three separate gambling operations were run out of the Post Pub.The opeations were described as follows:

One was led by Jack E. Staub, a mailer for the Washington Post. Staub, 46, who lives in an apartment above the Post Pub, took bets from the undercover officer on basketball, baseball and hockey games from April through July.

Last July, he told the undercover officer that he planned to start a sports betting operation for the football season.

The officer, who sometimes placed bets with Staub from a telephone in the 2nd District police headquarters, made more than 21 wagers totaling $2,000 during the football season.

A second person, Robert Carlin Bell, a Washington Post printer, directed the circulation of the illegal football cards used in the betting, investigators said. They said Bell, 45, who lives at 2107 S. 27th St., Arlington, primarily dispensed the cards at the Post Pub, although there were other drop off points.

Bell allegedly delivered the football cards to a bartender at the Post Pub about 2 p.m. each Tuesday and picked up the card stubs and money from the bartender each Saturday about noon.

Another person, who led a third operation similar to Staub's is still being sought.